Portable devices, such as communications devices, e.g. cellular phones, etc., have become commonplace if not ubiquitous. Along with the increasing popularity of these various devices, the functionality of the devices has also increased. The need to communicate or interface between these devices and other devices, e.g., auxiliary devices of various forms, given the increase in popularity and functionality has also exploded.
Furthermore, concerns about operator distraction and the like related to the use of devices, such as cellular phones and the like while operating automobiles has increased the demand for handsfree operation of the cellular phone while in an automobile. In these and other situations the phone, etc. is carried on the person until the person enters the automobile at which time some technique for readily interfacing the phone to an auxiliary device, such as handsfree functionality or the like is needed.
While various cellular phone providers have utilized proprietary interfaces there has been increasing interest in a standardized interface. Organizations such as the Consumer Electronics Association have proposed one or more standard interfaces. The standard interfaces represent in many cases additional costs in economic and possibly complexity and size terms, all of which are important parameters in the portable device marketplace. Thus it is important to have elegant implementations of these interfaces and this tends to drive interfaces where various paths may support multiple modes in the interface. Methods and apparatus to facilitate the various modes and changes between modes can be overly complex and thus economically burdensome.